Pigs In Litters Research Articles

The influence of the induction of farrowing on live birth, body mass, appearance of dystocia, mortality and surviving of neonatal pigs in litter during the first ten days

The objective of this work was to investigate the influence of the the day of farrowing induction on the number of newborn piglets (live born and dead born), body mass and mortality of neonatal pigs in litter by the tenth day of age. For the investigation purpose, there were chosen 167 pregnant animals, 34 gilts and 133 sows, divided into 3 groups each, according to the day of pregnancy when prostaglandin analogue, dinoprost-tromethamine, was applied (from 112th to 114th day). Fastest- induced parturition was in gilts which were administered dinoprost on the 113th day of pregnancy, (34,30 ? 6,23) h after application, that is, in sows which were administered prostaglandin on the 114th day of pregnancy, (29,57 ? 4,14) h after application of dinoprost. Most gilts (75 %) and sows (90,91%) started farrowing 24-36 h after dinoprost application, when it was given on the 113th day of pregnancy. During daily twelve-hour working time (7-19 h), 67,07% out of all the treated animals started farrowing. When farrowing was induced on the 112th day of pregnancy, 17 sows (12,78%) needed obstetric assistance for dystocia, while 47 (35,34 %) sows had troublesome farrowing. Along with the delayed induction, body mass of newborn pigs increased, and the largest recorded weight was 1,27 kg in sows, that is 1,38 kg in gilts, which were given dinoprost on the 114th day of pregnancy, with the lowest number of live born pigs of body mass less than 1 kg (23,76%). In this experiment there was determined the connection between the body mass and vitality of newborn piglets, so the lowest mortality rate of the pigs by the 10th day of age was noticed in sows and gilts which were given dinoprost on the 114th day of pregnancy (11,05%), in regard to the pigs born of sows and gilts which were given dinoprost on the 112th day of pregnancy (15,39 %).

Influence of housing conditions, number of farrowing and number of pigs in litter on weight loss in sows during lactation

The objective of this work was to investigate the influence of housing conditions, number of farrowing and number of pigs in litter on weight loss in sows during lactation. The experiment included 60 sows, half breed developed by cross breeding of Big Yorkshire and Swedish Landrace in lactation. Body weight of the sows (kg) was determined 2nd, 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th day after farrowing. On the basis of the obtained values, there was calculated the difference in body weight between two consecutive investigation periods. The sows were divided into two groups and held in different housing conditions: 30 of them were held in extensive, and other 30 sows in intensive way of farming. In regard to number of farrowing, the sows were divided into three groups: sows with one or two farrowing (group P1, n=20), with three or four farrowing (group P2, n=20), and sows that farrowed five or more times (P3,n=20). In regard to number of pigs in litter, the sows were divided into two groups: the first (Group I, n=30) with sows that had up to eight pigs, and the second (Group II, n=30) with sows that had nine or more pigs in litter. The obtained results showed that in all perids of the investigation during lactation, body weight in sows held in extensive farming conditions was statistically significantly higher compared to those from intensive farming conditions. On the other hand, the loss of body weight during lactation was significantly higher in sows from extensive in regard to intensive farming conditions in the first two weeks of lactation. The sows with bigger number of farrowing had greater body weight, compared to those with smaller number of farrowing. There was no statistically significant difference in body weight loss during lactation, between sows with different number of farrowing, but considering that the sows with less farrowings had significantly lower body weight, they consequently lost more weight in percentage. The sows with greater number of pigs had significantly smaller body weight in the end of lactation, that is on 21st and 28th day of lactation. The results of this investigation point out to the fact that mainly housing conditions, that is nutrition influence body weight loss, and after that comes the number of pigs in litter.

Occurrence of mycotoxins in straw used in pig deep litter systems in Australia

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi under certain stress periods (Smith and Seddon 1998). When ingested, mycotoxins cause insidious losses, ill thrift and reduced disease resistance. Zearalenone is known to cause hyperestrogesium in pigs and hence a reduction in fertility in both sows and boars can occur (Binder 2004). Certain mycotoxins such as zearalenone (ZEA) and deoxinivalenol (DON) are produced by fungi of the fusarium species on crops in the field. Fusarium pseudograminearum (Crown Rot) produces both DON and ZEA in decreasing levels up the tiller of winter cereals (Blaney et al. 1987). Most studies carried out so far analysed the occurrence of mycotoxins in the grain and less is known about the prevalence of mycotoxins in the straw of the crop. Housing of sows during gestation on straw is becoming a favoured production system due to environmental and public perception pressures. The intake of straw by weaners on straw based systems has been found to account for 11.5% of total feed intake (Barneveld et al. 2004), such that there could be a considerable risk for increased ingestion of mycotoxins in animals on straw based systems. The objective of this study was to investigate the occurrence of mycotoxins in straw used for deep litter in Australian deep litter pig production systems.

Effects of Resection of Pig Needle Teeth on Pig and Sow Injuries and Pre-Weaning Pig Performance

The objective was to determine the effects of pig needle teeth resection (teeth cut off flat) on sow underline injuries, pig facial injuries, and pre-weaning performance. Pigs in litters on a university and commercial farm had needle teeth resected (18 litters; 170 pigs) or left intact (17 litters; 172 pigs). On d 7, sows nursing pigs with intact teeth had a greater (P<0.01) percentage of injured teats and/or udders (23.2 ± 3.1%) than did sows nursing pigs with resected teeth (14.6 ± 3.0%). On d 21, the incidence of underline injuries was similar (P=0.21) for the intact (29.1 ± 3.8%) and resected (24.4 ± 3.7%) groups. On the university farm, the percentage of pigs with facial injuries was greater (P<0.01) for litters with intact teeth compared with litters with resected teeth both on d 7 (71.4 ± 5.0% vs. 18.2 ± 5.0%) and on d 21 (40.6 ± 6.0% vs. 9.7 ± 6.0%). The incidence of pig injuries was low (<1%) on the commercial farm and not affected (P>0.96) by treatment. For the intact and resected groups, pig BW on d 7 (3.1 ± 0.1 vs. 3.1 ± 0.1 kg; P=0.57) and d 21 (7.2 ± 0.2 vs. 7.2 ± 0.2 kg; P=0.96) and death loss (8.6 ± 2.3 vs. 13.1 ± 2.3; P=0.20) were similar. Pig performance was not affected by resecting needle teeth. The practice may be warranted, however, to prevent injuries to pigs and sows.

Safety and efficacy of vaccination of pregnant gilts against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome

Abstract Objective To determine the safety and efficacy of vaccination of pregnant gilts with an attenuated strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Animals 16 pregnant gilts. Procedure Pregnant gilts free of antibodies for PRRSV were assigned (4 gilts/group) to the following groups: group I, untreated controls; group II, vaccinated on day 60 of gestation; group III, vaccinated on day 60 of gestation and exposed to virulent PRRSV on day 90 of gestation; and group IV, exposed to virulent PRRSV on day 90 of gestation. Safety and efficacy of vaccination was evaluated by group comparisons of prenatal and postnatal survival of fetuses and pigs, respectively, and by the condition and rate of weight gain of liveborn pigs. Results Collective (prenatal and postnatal) death losses up to day 15 after farrowing (conclusion of study) were similar for groups I (7/47, 14.9%) and II (7/44, 16.9%) but were greater for group III (18/49, 36.7%) and were greater still for group IV (23/37, 62.2%). Mean body weight 15 days after farrowing was greatest for pigs in litters of group I (4.46 kg) and progressively less for the other groups (3.87, 3.76, and 2.18 kg for groups II, III, and IV, respectively). Conclusions Using these conditions, vaccination of gilts during midgestation appeared to be safe. However, it provided only partial protection against subsequent exposure to virulent virus. Clinical Relevance Attenuated-PRRSV vaccines may have to be administered to naive gilts &gt; 30 days before conception to provide maximum protection throughout gestation. (Am J Vet Res 1999;60: 796–801)

Effect of supplemental nutrients on the growth performance of sucking pigs

Twenty-seven sows were allocated at their first farrowing to 3 experimental treatments in which their sucking pigs had access to no supplemental milk, liquid cow milk (CM), or a synthetic milk supplement (SM). Liquid cow milk contained 128 g total solids/kg, 24·2 g CP/kg, 30·4 g fat/kg, and 1·8 g lysine/kg, whereas the supplemental synthetic milk contained 200 g total solids/kg, 102·6 g CP/kg, 36·0 g fat/kg, and 9·0 g lysine/kg. All litters contained 12 pigs and the supplemental milk products were offered ad libitum from Day 4 of lactation until weaning at 28 days of age. Between Days 0 and 14 of lactation, there was no effect of treatment on supplemental milk intake or average piglet growth rate but between Days 14 and 28 of lactation, litters given milk supplements grew faster than litters receiving no supplemental milk. Overall, piglet growth rates between Days 0 and 28 of lactation were greater for litters receiving supplemental milk (297 and 277 g/day for CM and SM litters, respectively) than for litters receiving no supplemental milk (239 g/day). Piglets offered cow milk drank more milk between Days 4 and 28 of lactation than piglets offered the synthetic milk (5·48 v. 2·38 kg/day). Piglets in litters which had access to cow milk visited the supplemental feeder more often (5·5 v. 2·7 visits per suckling interval) and spent longer at the feeder (45·4 v. 14·5 s) than pigs in litters which had access to the synthetic milk supplement. Average sow milk production was 15·4 and 15·3 kg/day between Days 11 and 14 and between Days 25 and 28 of lactation, respectively, and was unaffected by treatment. Treatment also had no significant effect on average suckling interval on Day 21 of lactation (51·7 min) or carcass composition of representative pigs from each litter killed at 28 days of age. Between Days 14 and 28, female pigs grew faster than male pigs (304·3±9·3 v. 292·0±9· 2 g/day). These results demonstrate that provision of supplemental milk to sucking pigs can improve preweaning growth rate and the response increased as lactation proceeded.

Development of Vaccines for Bacterial Diseases using Recombinant DNA Technology

A vaccine was prepared using recombinant DNA techniques to prevent fatal enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli diarrhea in swine. The product, which is a subunit vaccine, was prepared by mechanical and chemical removal of pilus adhesins from the surface of genetically engineered strains of E. coli. The vaccine contains the pilus adhesins K88, K99, and 987P plus an adjuvant. The genes responsible for production of K88 and K99 were separately cloned into the multicopy vector pBR322. K88 was found to be encoded on a 7.6-kilobase HindIII-EcoRI fragment, and K99 was found to be encoded on a 7.15-kilobase BamHI fragment. Strains containing the recombinant plasmid for K99 produced up to ten times more K99 than strains containing the wild-type plasmid. Vaccination of pregnant pigs with the vaccine led to production of pilus-adhesin-specific antibodies that were transferred to the piglets in colostrum and milk. Pilus-adhesin-specific antibodies neutralized the adhesiveness of the pili on enterotoxigenic E. coli, thus preventing attachment, colonization, and disease. Mortality of pigs in litters from vaccinated pigs due to experimentally induced enterotoxigenic E. coli diarrhea was reduced 10-to-20-fold (depending upon the challenge strain), and the incidence, severity, and duration of diarrhea were also reduced.

Development of Human and Pig Ascaris in the Pig and Rabbit

Pigs on balanced rations were given single inocula of 100, 500 or 5,000 infective eggs of pig ascaris (A. suum) or human ascaris (A. lumbricoides) and examined 9 to 91 days later. Rabbits were similarly inoculated. At 9, 11, and 22 days of infection in rabbits more larvae of A. lumbricoides than of A. suum were recovered, while in pigs more larvae of A. suum usually were recovered. A. suum had a more rapid rate of tracheal migration in both pigs and rabbits and, with few exceptions, a shorter prepatent period in pigs (40 to 53 days) than did A. lumbricoides (54 to 61 days). At 45 to 91 days of infection, 20 of 21 pigs inoculated with A. suum harbored 3 to 669 worms, and 8 of 11 pigs inoculated with A. lumbricoides harbored 1 to 23 worms; among 15 uninoculated controls, two harbored 1 and 4 worms, respectively. The observations indicate that in the pig A. lumbricoides is capable of producing patent infection, though it differs markedly from A. suum in the rate and frequency of development to sexual maturity. Numerous attempts have been made to discover differences between Ascaris lumbricoides, the common roundworm of man, and Ascaris suum, which occurs commonly in the pig. Differences in structure of the dentigerous ridges were described by Sprent (1952) and by Abdulrachman and Joe (1954), but these observations were not confirmed by Lysek (1963). Differences have been noted also in antigenicity (Kagan et al., 1958) and in rate and frequency of development in human volunteers (Takata, 1951; Yajima, 1955; Akamatsu, 1959). The rate and frequency of development in their respective hosts could provide useful criteria for differentiation as in the different strains of Schistosoma japonicum in Taiwan and elsewhere (Hsii and Hsii, 1962), but experimental attempts to infect man with the pig ascaris and pig with the human ascaris have given variable results (de Boer, 1935). The early experimental studies were hampered by the difficulty of producing patent A. suum infections in the pig (Ransom and Foster, 1920; Martin, 1926; Roberts, 1934). The purpose of the present study was to Received for publication 27 May 1968. * From a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Parasitology at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. Supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, and Texas A & M University Graduate College. further compare the pig ascaris with the human ascaris with respect to rate of pulmonary migration in the rabbit and pig and the rate of growth and the frequency of development to maturity in the intestine of the pig. MATERIALS AND METHODS Experimental animals Sixty pigs in seven litters (designated litters 1-7 in Table I) were obtained from a recently stocked specific-pathogen-free (SPF) swine research farm where ascaris infections had never been observed. Each litter was divided into three equal or nearly equal groups and given infective eggs of A. suum or A. lumbricoides, or not infected and maintained under similar conditions as a check against extraneous infection. The seven litters were used in four experiments (trials I-IV), outlined in Table I. Male pigs of two litters (nos. 3 and 4) were castrated 1 day before inoculation; the others were not castrated. The pigs of litter no. 2 were given anti-hog cholera serum 55 days after inoculation; the remainder were unvaccinated. Rabbits of a New Zealand White stock, 6 to 12 months of age, were used for observations on larval migration, and for checking the infectivity of cultured eggs. Animals used in individual trials were of approximately the same size and age. Housing and feeding of animals Pigs obtained soon after birth (litters 2 and 5) were placed in individual cages for ease of bottle feeding and care. Older pigs were placed individually or in groups in cages or concrete-floored stalls. All cages and stalls were in a closed building and were steam-cleaned prior to the start of each trial. During the trials the stalls were cleaned daily with individual scrapers and running water. Groups of animals receiving different inocula, or none, were housed separately except in the initial trial in which control and test pigs were caged

Analysis of the breeding records of a herd of pigs

1. A survey and. statistical analysis of the records of litters born in the N.I.R.D. herd of Large White pigs over a period of 16 years are presented.2. The mean length of gestation was 114 days for both gilts and sows.3. The mean numbers of pigs born alive and born dead per litter from gilts, 10·0 and 0·2 respectively, were both significantly smaller than the corresponding figures for sows, 11·8 and O·8. No seasonal differences were found.4. The mean total losses of pigs from birth to weaning at 8 weeks were 29·5% of pigs born alive. The losses in litters from gilts, 23·0%, were significantly smaller than in litters from sows, 31·0%. The losses during the winter months both for gilts, 32·5%, and for sows, 35·9%, were significantly higher than during the summer months, 19·4% and 26·7% for gilts and sows respectively.5. Over 50% of the total losses were due to crushing by the dam, 74·1% of the losses from this cause occurring during the first 48 hr. after birth.6. The mean number of pigs weaned per litter was 8·0. The difference between the number weaned per litter from gilts, 7·7, and per litter from number of pigs was weaned per litter from sows during the summer months, 8·7, than during the winter months, 7·4.7. There was no significant difference between the number of male and of female pigs weaned.8. The mean weight at weaning was 29·9 lb., male pigs, 30·3 lb., being significantly heavier than females, 29·51b. Pigs in litters from gilts, 27·81b., were significantly lighter at weaning than those from sows, 30·0 lb., and for both gilts and sows, pigs reared during the summer months, 29·7 and 31·8 lb. respectively, were significantly heavier than those reared during the winter months, 25·9 and 28·2 lb. respectively.